


The ClueFinders: Danger on Deception Island

by StarLynnder



Category: ClueFinders, Cluefinders (Video Games), Nancy Drew (Video Games)
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22387534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarLynnder/pseuds/StarLynnder
Summary: A Crossover between one of the Nancy Drew Mystery Series video games by HerInteractive AND the ClueFinders by The Learning Company. Also, the first ever ClueFinder fanfic to be published on AO3!





	1. Bored

The Cluefinders: Danger on Deception Island  
Chapter 0: Bored

"Argh!" Joni sighed and threw down her Artliner pen. She sighed. She tried, she really did. But the results are there, in front of her, screaming at her face that Art is not her thing. Ugh. But never mind. She’s okay with that.

But not after fretting about it first. 

An hour passed. Okay, back on her feet. So what should she do next? Call Santiago? And Owen and Leslie and Laptrap (and Socrates) to hang out? Recall some of the gang's old Cluefinding memories via a thick, special, colourful scrapbook she kept? Or just go downstairs to eat and try out another hobby afterwards, preferably something she's better at?

Ugh, the holidays have been so BORING since she and her best friends finished their last case and solved their last mystery last year. Now another new year has begun, and Joni has no idea what to do…... 

Joni wracked her brains for something to do. She even tried making a list of what she can do and rating them by how interesting they are — one to five stars — but to no avail. Nothing in her journal excited her like it used to. Nothing is as thrilling or exciting or worthy of looking forward to or doing again as having another mystery to solve with her signature gang.

In the end, Joni gave up and decided to replay another old video game on her old computer systems. Since they crashed, she had lost a lot of her old favourite programs and pastimes so she’s determined to really appreciate them to the fullest before these dinosaurs crash again and she loses more of her everything again.

So many games were lost, but there’s still too many choices left. Joni settled for a mystery-clue-finding game that takes place in the American Pacific Northwest. When she’s not solving cases out there, she's in her den here solving cases digitally.

The Pacific Northwest…… Why does it remind her of one of her cases that also happened in the same place? It was so long ago. But yet Joni can’t help, as she holds the file casing of her video game, but go through a scene-by-scene flashback……


	2. Katie's (Trashed) Boat

Friday the 17th, some Month, some Year  
Snake Horse Harbour, Deception Island, San Juan Islands, Washington, 98250

Chapter 1: Katie’s (Trashed) Boat

The Cluefinders had travelled to the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest to visit a friend called Katie Firestone, who works on a small Deception Island. Katie is a Marine Biologist graduate who is doing a study on underwater parasitic growth. When she is not doing research, she takes tourists out onto the water in her boat for whale watching tours and a little trip around the island. The fog around the island can get so dense that sometimes it’s dangerous to row out to sea, on ship, boat or kayak. But nothing can prevent Katie or the Cluefinders from exploring any corner of a place that is worth exploring.

“Hey, Katie! Need help with those groceries?” Joni hollered and ran towards her friend, the rest catching up behind her. Katie had just done her shopping at SaveKing, and was about to move her purchases to her boat.

“Hey, Joni. Guys! Good to see you all again.” Katie began walking towards her boat at the docks. “It’s okay. I can do this myself. Come on up to the boat. Last week this lone orca, assumed to be an orphan, just started showing up out of nowhere, and I’m just about to show you— ohmigosh! What happened?”

The Cluefinders followed her and rushed to her boat. It was a disaster. Broken pieces of glass and furniture lay everywhere. It was a mess, simply put. Katie put her groceries down and opened her engine compartment. Some parts were missing, others damaged. Great start to a mystery-free vacation.

“Bummer. Looks like you’re not gonna be able to go anywhere for a while,” Owen, the foodie, remarked.

“I’ve never fixed an engine this big before,” Santiago, the team engineer, said. “Are you gonna be able to fix it?” 

“I better. I can’t afford to pay for repairs right now.”

“Maybe we better call the sheriff,” Leslie, the brainy one, suggested.

“No, let’s not. The insurance company would just raise my rates and I can’t afford that right now. Sigh. Sorry about all this money talk. Business just isn’t doing well right now so I’ve got to shop at SaveKing instead of the usual big malls and department stores.”

“Who do you think did this?” Joni, always the first to follow leads, wondered.

“Look, you kids are on vacation. Go have some fun instead and don’t worry about this. I don’t want you to worry about any mystery at all when you’re this far away from home with me, okay? Go ride into town — drop by the Hot Kettle Cafe. Their clam chowder is a must-try there — or grab some of my kayaks down the dock instead and do some kayaking. Just don’t go past the channel markers and never go out without a life jacket or a GPS, that’s Global Positioning System. Mine should be around here somewhere. And come back quickly when the fog starts rolling in. The fog we get around here is as thick as British fog.”

“Okay,” The Cluefinders agreed. They came here to wind down and relax from all that mystery-solving and they’re gonna do just that.

But just for the sake of safety and security, they decided to look around Katie’s boat to see if anything important was damaged or missing.

Leslie was exploring the inner parts of the boat, near the window looking forward of the boat. She found all the books taken out of a drawer compartment but nothing missing or broken. “It seems as if the saboteur was looking for something,” she hollered at Katie.

“If you could help me put them back without leaving any space behind I’d be thankful.” Luckily Leslie was a good organiser. She did just that successfully and decided to reward herself by doing some light reading with book on Arboreal Morphology.

Some minutes passed and Santiago called out from under the kitchen sink. “Whoever trashed your boat did a number on your pipes, too. I’m gonna fix ‘em and turn the water back on.” 

“If you could do that for me I’d be forever grateful.” Santiago decided it was still a good start to their vacation since he got to do what he loved most — fixing (or inventing) things. At the end of his task, he found a business card belonging to an Andy Jason who does “Whale Watching Tours”. He didn’t think much about the card (Katie could have just misplaced or lost it), but decided to keep it in his pocket for future reference.

Meanwhile, Owen was exploring their shared bunk. The team has already set down their suitcases and carry-ons by their beds but have yet to get comfortable. Owen noticed a door ajar near their bunk. He opened it and found a mini refrigerator that looks like an ice box on the floor. He opened it, too, but it looks like whatever’s in there hasn’t begun to defrost yet, so he can’t tell what’s in there.

Near the sink, Owen couldn’t resist making himself a sandwich with fresh new ingredients from SaveKing. The rest of the gang, as witnesses as usual, had to remind him not to eat the first thing during a holiday, or a case.

Joni, on the other hand, was upstairs by the driver’s seat. She found a threatening note that said “Stop meddling or else!” written and underlined in big red letters and…… uh-oh. Katie’s GPS doesn’t look so hot. The saboteur must have smashed it in. Joni went to report to Katie.

“That note certainly wasn’t there when I left the boat. The saboteur must have left it.” Obviously. Unless Katie is not the kind of friend the Cluefinders thought she was and wrote that note herself and is trying to throw suspicion off herself…… “Why don’t you go down to the Hot Kettle Cafe and borrow a GPS from Holt Scotto. He’s running for harbourmaster right now. But he’s also a fisherman who goes out to sea to fish so he should have one.”

“Okay,” Joni said, but she can’t help but know more. “Why would someone trash your boat? Can you think of anyone who would hate you enough to do this?”

Katie stopped and thought. “Come to think of it, I shot my mouth pretty good at the town meeting last night.” 

“What was the town meeting about?”

“It’s about this lone orca whale who showed up in the channel a few weeks go, seemingly all of a sudden out of nowhere, and she’s getting a little too close to the boats the fish and do business around here — too close to us humans for comfort. Different people are in a dispute about what to do about her.”

“What do the authorities say?”

“Well, I told them about the orca and they’re doing some tests on her and the water. If she’s found to be healthy, they will attempt to identify her pod or her family and rejoin her with them. If she’s found to be not healthy, she will be captured and shipped to a research facility where she will be treated until she’s well enough to return to the sea and rejoin her pod. Until then, all boats including mine are ordered to stay at least three hundred feet away from her, wherever she is, or risk paying a thousand dollar fine.”

“And what do you say?”

“I agree with the no-boat zone. As someone with a PhD in Marine Biology, I have a greater appreciation for marine life than the average person does, other than Andy Jason who runs a whale-watching business similar to mine. If I had a dollar every time he tried to convince me to sell out to him, I wouldn’t be fixing this engine. I would be buying a new one.”

“And who disagrees with you on the orca thing?” Joni was trying to stay on topic. 

“The fishermen certainly disagree. Having to avoid accidental run-ins with the orca means taking a costly detour around the island which costs them time and fuel. Holt Scotto is one of those men.”

“I see you and him don’t see eye to eye.”

“And also me and Jenna Deblin, but I’ll spare you the details. She owns the Hot Kettle Cafe, by the way.”

Joni joined her friends down at the docks who have decided to explore the place a little further, before going kayaking together. She filled her friends in on her conversation with Katie, and then decided to go look around, too.

“Hey, a message in a bottle!” Santiago announced as he knelt down and picked something up from the water next to the nearest kayak. “How romantic!”

“Ugh, how cheesy,” Owen groaned. Romance novels are not his thing. “What’s it say?”

Santiago removed the cork from the glass bottle and pulled out the rolled-up piece of pink paper. It merely had the numbers “08.615” on it with the word “Rosebud” scrawled on the lower left corner. “That’s strange. I wonder who wrote it?”

“Shall we go into town? We can talk about this whole orca thing at the Hot Kettle Cafe, over a bowl of clam chowder. Kayaking can wait,” Leslie suggested hungrily. It had been three hours since their last meal on the way from their home state.

“Yummy.” Owen licked his lips. “I’ve never had clam chowder in my life before, but I can almost taste it.”

“Okay, gang. Let’s go!” Joni agreed. And she took the lead again as the rest of the crew followed her into town on their bikes.

And without even having to say it, the Cluefinders found themselves smack-dab in the middle of another mystery yet again……


	3. The Hot Kettle Cafe

Chapter 2: The Hot Kettle Cafe

When the Cluefinders first stepped into the old but cozy and colourful cafe, they noticed it was a bright place with only a few customers, but still very noisy. That’s because the members of the Snake Horse Harbour Club are having their annual party in a reserved section of the cafe. Too bad the kids were not invited. They sure sound like they’re having fun.

Holt Scotto, the potential harbourmaster, was there, having his cup of coffee by the counter. His duffle bag lay open by his chair. Jenna Dublin, the owner of the cafe, was there, too, working behind the counter as both chef and cashier. The Cluefinders decided to approach Holt first. 

“You kids staying with Katie Firestone?” he asked them when they introduced themselves. “Word travels fast around here in this small town. Now why would you wanna do that?”

“Call ourselves the Cluefinders, or visit Katie?” Laptrap, their floating yellow TURTLE-Laptop, had not spoken up until now.

“Her true colours came real clear at the meeting last night,” Holt explained. “Us fishermen don’t matter. All she cares about is saving that poor, precious orca out there. To heck with people trying to make a living.”

The Cluefinders explained to him about her trashed boat.

“That’s what she gets for being so meddlesome.”

Meddlesome. Hmmmm…… Joni took mental notes in her mind.

And also about her trashed GPS.

“Awww, now that’s a shame,” Holt said, clearly not sympathetic.

And about how they can’t go kayaking without it.

“Oh, now that really is a shame. Tell you kids what. If you help me test out and complete this seamanship quiz and — you’ll need this container for the last question,” Holt handed them a piece of paper and a basket from his duffle bag, “I’ll let you borrow my GPS.”

“A seamanship quiz? What for? Owen asked.”

“It’s a little something I whipped up for when I become harbourmaster later on. The idea is to cut down on having to rescue people who have no business being out on the water in the first place. If they pass the quiz, they can rent a boat or any kind of water gear. If they don’t pass, no gear. They gotta do a little reading or have some basic water-navigation knowledge before they find themselves out into the unknown there.”

“Makes sense,” Leslie remarked with a finger to her chin.

“Yo, no offense, sir. But you don’t look like a harbourmaster or a politician to me,” Owen joked.

“Welp, I’ve been a fisherman for decades. Fourth generation. Been living here on this island for the past forty years now, and I know as much about water navigation and sailing as the next person who wants to go out on the water should know. Stuff a politician ‘round these parts should know, too.”

“What inspired you to run for harbourmaster, sir?” Leslie asked.

“It’s about high time people start doing what makes sense instead of what’s ‘politically correct’ all the time. Instead of saving anything that’s covered in fur, feathers, or blubber, they should start saving jobs instead. Current harbourmasters bends over backwards for the environmentalists so much it’s a wonder he could still walk straight.”

“Fine politician you’ve got here.”

The Cluefinders thanked him and decided to work on the quiz immediately, but not after talking to Jenna Deblin first. “Heyya, Cluefinders. How’s it going? Oh, and before you ask me how I know about you, gotta tell ya, when my aunt turned over this place to me she said, ‘Jenna, you’re gonna become a good listener.’ Turns out she’s right, in more ways than I can imagine.”

“I take that this cafe has been in your family for generations?” Santiago asked.

“Yep. Legend has it that a secret panel has been built into some of these walls. Guy would be having a drink one moment and the next moment, wham! A clobber over his head and he’s dragged into the tunnels. Shanghaied. Kidnapped. Taken away to some far away ship and when he wakes up, he’ll realise that if he wanted to survive, he better do what the captain ordered. No matter what he was before, he was now just a sailor. It was a cheap way for pirates and captains to get crewmen back in the day.”

“Wow. Do you believe that?” Joni asked, wide-eyed.

“It’s just a tall tale,” said Jenna. “Never happened. Not in my family’s cafe.” That’s that, then. “Oh, and I hear you’re visiting Katie Firestone. My condolences”

“Why do you say that?” Joni asked.

“She and I never see eye to eye. About that orca? I think it should be towed out to sea, pronto. No matter what Miss Fancy-Schmancy Science Degree says.”

Looks like Katie has got a few haters here at Snake Horse Harbour, despite living and working here for most of her life.

Before leaving the cafe, the Cluefinders decided to have a hearty meal involving clam chowder, fish pastry, coffee and sweet blueberry muffins. They also decided to do a little reading on Maritime Signal Flags, the International Communication Alphabet, and about the local legendary sea monster, Cadborosaurus (or “Caddy” for short), from books and postcards at the cafe. 

Then they rode to Whale World, a marine life museum and activity centre, to visit Andy Jason (after Santiago showed them the business card he found under Katie’s sink. They can work on their quiz later).


	4. Whale World - Where Whales Rule!

Dressed in a blue flannel shirt and beige trousers, Andy Jason seemed more like a customer than a person who runs a whale museum or whale-watching business. Despite trying to buy out Katie over and over again as a business partner, he seemed a really nice man who let the Cluefinders explore his museum, play the games there he gave them each a key card they needed to play the games), and win a prize altogether. 

He even let them ask questions about whales, life at sea, navigation, and marine life in general. The Cluefinders have learned a lot about Minke Whales, Dall’s Porpoise, Gray Whales, Humpback Whales, Killer Whales, and other sea mammals in general from all kinds of games and exhibitions. They found it useful to learn that “orca” is another name for Killer Whale, which thankfully kills and eats only other whales and not humans, and is surprisingly a type of dolphin, not an actual whale, but is called a whale because of its size.

The kids managed to win a free whale-watching tour after winning the games and spinning the wheel of fortune. So Andy gave them an exclusive tour — just the six of them, including Laptrap, on his whale-watching boat. The Cluefinders took lots of pictures of the island and its animals, deciding it would be a great trip after all despite having a mystery to solve.

Just then, the lone orca appeared a mere hundred feet in front of their boat! It emerged from the water surface, made an arc with its back, then dived off and swam away. It was a wild sight, but the gang, and Andy, decided to turn back quickly before any authorities spotted their boat within less than 300 feet away from the orca and risk paying 1000 bucks of their pocket money for a fine.

When they got back to the museum, the gang was quick to solve the seamanship quiz that Holt Scotto gave to them. Andy wasn’t much help, so they used what little knowledge they have of nautical terms, boat parts, knot types, sailing, navigation, Morse Code, the planets and constellations (and a grumpy Laptrap as a search engine for questions they don’t know) to solve the problems. 

Leslie’s big brain and knowledge of obscure topics proved useful for this task. In fact, she decided the quiz of nine questions (the tenth will be solved later on) was too easy for her. As she let her friends worked on the questions to increase their knowledge on these topics, she decided to explore the museum a bit more. She noticed a beautiful ship-in-a-bottle display on a wall near the entrance. She decided to ask Andy about it.

“Rumour has it an American settler named Benjamin Hawkins built it,” he explains. “Some say he's a pirate, but he’s probably just a farmer, like most settlers here were. That’s all I know about it. And rumour has that, you know those messages in a bottle people have been finding around here? Some say it’s our local resident nutjob Hilda Swenson trying to tell us something……”

“Hilda Swenson,” Leslie repeated. “Interesting……”

“If you wanna know more,” Andy continued, “ask Jenna Deblin. That woman sees all, hears all, and is usually willing to tell all.”

The quiz is finished. Together, the kids stared at the last question.

“We have to bring Holt a male dungeness crab?”

“Let’s go find one at the beach near the Lighthouse,” Santiago suggested. “I saw one marked on the map of Deception Island when I was looking through Laptrap’s search engine earlier.”

“Sigh, why can’t they have a museum dedicated to turtles instead?” Laptrap complained.

“Let’s go!” Joni cried.


	5. The Lighthouse

“Yuck, Owen! Don’t pick those up!”

“I’m not trying to eat them, Les. I’m just trying to take a closer look at them.”

Holding her nose by the beach, Leslie bent down to investigate the two fishes seemingly washed ashore together. “This is strange. This appears to be Atlantic Herring. They look a lot like the one on the postcard I saw at the Hot Kettle Cafe. But this kind of fish is not native to this side of the country. I wonder where it came from.”

“Maybe someone brought them in from the Atlantic Coast and them moved them here?” Joni guessed. She bent down to examine them, too.

“Maybe. But how would two of them wash together on the shore like that? This is weird.” Leslie got up.

“You know, Les, as much as I, we, appreciate your big brains and your ability to solve cases using your deductive logic or whatever, seeing two fishes washed ashore at a place where people fish for a living ain’t exactly front page news ‘round here. Maybe you should just let it go,” Laptrap said. Never really keen to dive headfirst into mysteries, he was making some sense for once.

“Yeah, but still…… alright, never mind. Let’s get to work finding that male Dungeness crab.”

As the Cluefinders walked along the rocky, sandy shore, they keep coming across little holes in the ground, each about the same size and depth as the next. Leslie hypothesised that some little animal that loves watery, muddy or sandy areas must have made a burrow of some sort but Owen merely suspected that some bored surfer dude had made some perfectly rounded holes in the sand with a long, round tool or something. Just what a guy on a shore near a lighthouse would do.

On top of some more big rocks, Joni grabbed her binoculars from her backpack and looked out to sea. It was a calm, refreshing sight from all the concrete jungles and sometimes literal jungles they’ve had solved cases in. She was enjoying the view, until she spotted something wedged in between two big rocks in the water, some distance offshore. 

“Hey, Santiago! I think I see another bottle. Maybe there’s another message in it.”

Santiago grabbed the binoculars and took a look. “Hey, I see it, too. We’ll need some rocks to throw at and move the bottle out of its current position. Quick, find some rocks! Make sure they’re not too big — pebble size will do.”

The gang went around the beach and collected some perfectly pebble-sized skipping rocks. They laid a pile of them at Santiago’s feet. Santiago picked each one up and experimented with different angles and power until he managed to knock the bottle out from between the rocks. The bottle floated towards them and Santiago picked it up.

“Another message.” He removed the piece of paper. “42.517, Rosebud.” This is just like the first one we found. What do you think this means, Joni?”

“I don’t know. Hey, maybe it’s a set of coordinates. I mean, the numbers……”

“Do you still have the printed map with your bike?” Leslie asked. But before anyone could run off to get it, Owen reminded them of their original mission at the beach.

“Okay, so we’ve found two fishes washed up together on the beach, a few holes in the ground, and another message in a bottle, but still no sign of that crab.”

“Let’s keep looking,” Joni encouraged. “We’re sure to find it.”

They looked everywhere. They left no stone, or rock, unturned. Only Leslie knew how to differentiate a male Dungeness crab with a female one (by the shape and width of their abdomens), and she reminded her friends to do a little more reading on anything, even postcards. Laptrap was terrified of crabs. And whales. And chickens. And anything that doesn’t look like a turtle. He felt relieved for once that he didn’t have hands so he didn’t have to be the one to pick them up. 

“I found one,” Owen cried out suddenly. He grabbed it by the claws before it could run away, or snap at him. “Dunno if it’s a male, though. Lemme check.” The gang came over to examine. “Its belly sure looks thin and narrow enough. Let’s put it in the basket.” And with that, their seamanship quiz is finished!

“Great! But……” Joni noticed one corner of the beach they haven’t explored yet. We haven’t seen what’s on that side yet,” she pointed. “And what about the Lighthouse?” 

“Joni, I don’t think tourists are allowed to visit the Lighthouse. It didn’t say on the map.” But before he could finish she was already at the far end of the beach. “Hey guys, look at this!”

Leslie tucked the basket safely under her arm, and they all followed. Joni was pointed at a piece of splintered wood lying in a pool of seawater. It looked like it just recently broke off from a ship or cargo container judging by how sharp the splinters are. The white markings that looked like chalk on it read “S.S.”. The name of the ship that carried it, probably.

“I wonder where this came from.”

“Let’s take it back. Maybe I can do some research on it,” Leslie, the ever-so-inquisitive one, suggested.

“Okay. I just hope I don’t get hurt from this. The edges sure look sharp.”

“You can say it looks kinda…… edgy, huh?” And everyone glared at Owen for that lousy pun.

This is when Laptrap wished he actually had mechanical hands of some sort so that the kids wouldn’t get hurt holding that piece of wood.

Luckily Joni had extra room in her reinforced-material backpack to store that piece of wood. So the gang tucked in their newfound belongings and carried up the nearby stairs and approached the Lighthouse.

*Ding-ding-ding-ding* The sound of a metal thingy on a swinging rod hitting another metal bar broke the eerie silence. The Cluefinders ventured forward towards the locked door which required some kind of combination to unlock it. 

Just then they heard footsteps.

Holt Scotto approached out of nowhere from behind the Lighthouse and confronted the kids. “Hey, you! You shouldn’t be here. The sign,” he pointed at it, “says no trespassing, and that means you too, kiddies.”

“Kiddies?” Joni hesitated.

“Leave.”

“But we were just—”

“NOW.”

With nothing else to argue for the Cluefinders turned at left the Lighthouse alone. But they’ll come back to investigate again, when the coast is clear……


	6. Who's Hilda?

“Safe, sound, bright and warm, away from creatures hiding in the sand and mysterious objects floating in the water!” was Laptrap’s idea of the perfect vacation.

The cafe didn’t seem as noisy as before now, but the Cluefinders were getting hungry again. They ordered another round of clam chowder and muffins and sat down to discuss what they’ve learned about the island and the people on it so far.

“Who do you think this Benjamin Hawkins is?” Leslie started. “For a possible farmer he must be really skilled, creative and meticulous to be able to make a perfect scaled-down replica of a ship and then fit it into a bottle like that.”

“Perhaps there is a library or a resource centre around here that can help us find out more about him. Leslie, since you like libraries and books and stuff, can you look that up? This town can’t be that small,” Owen figured.

“Certainly. Another option would be to use our current in-house search engine for that task. But for the moment he doesn’t seem to be willing to comply with us.” Leslie motioned towards Laptrap who was pretending not to hear them by sniffing out the muffins (if robots or turbo T.U.R.T.L.E.s could sniff) for sale on the counter.

“As the Cluefinders wolf down their third meal of the day, Holt Scotto, was still at his seat by the counter, moved closer. “Hey, kids. You done with the seamanship quiz yet?” Santiago was so startled he nearly choked on his spoonful of clam chowder. And he didn’t even get to wash it down with some hot chocolate!

“Errr, Mr. Scotto. H-h-hi.”

Joni took the lead, boldly. “We’re sorry for sneaking around the Lighthouse like that.”

“Yeah, we’re like, sorry dude,” Owen said in between mouthfuls of blueberry muffin, to Joni and Leslie’s annoyance.

“Eh, it’s okay kids. Just don’t do it again, kay? That place is so old, it’s pretty much crumblin’! And old chunk a’ concrete could just fall off and hit ya on the head anytime, and knock ya out. I don’t want none a’ that happening when I’m harbourmaster, ya get it?”

“Yes, sir,” they said together.

“So y’all done with the seamanship quiz yet?”

“Actually, yes.” Santiago pulled out the sheet of paper and the basket with the male Dungeness crab in it. He wondered what being able to tell the difference between a male and a female Dungeness crab has to do with navigating the waters around you and getting your bearings, but a quiz is a quiz, he guesses.

“Great. Now as I promised, here’s my GPS.” Holt pulled it out of his duffle. “Just boot ‘er up, punch in your coordinates, and you’re good to go.”

“Thanks!” the team cried out.

“Y’know, we could just use the navigation program in my system,” Laptrap said, slightly offended. 

“Nah, we rather you just be a good ol’ search engine and let us use you whenever we need to,” Joni teased the T.U.R.T.L.E., leaving him huffing.

“What is that thing, anyway?” Holt asked, looking at Laptrap puzzledly.

“Ah, well,” Santiago began to explain, “he’s a—” Just then Jenna Deblin walked in from the kitchen, ready to serve and gossip with another batch of customers and all.

“Oop, I just remembered. Got a campaign meeting later today at Swenson Hall. Better get ready. A good harbourmaster can’t be late! See you kids around.” And Holt grabbed his duffle, paid for his coffee, and sped out the door as the Cluefinders waved him goodbye.

“So how’s your trip going so far?” Jenna asked the kids.

“Actually, we were hoping you could tell us a little more about Hilda Swenson,” Leslie started.

“Hilda Swenson her husband were two big stars back in Hollywood, long time ago, as writers-slash-producers together,” Jenna explained while wiping a bowl. “They were a famous couple. Made a lot of money. Lead perfect lives, to be exact. Then out of nowhere the husband suddenly died. They had been a team for so long that Hilda pretty much died, too.”

“What do you mean?” Santiago asked.

“She just sorta lost it. Started talking to walls and stuff. Then suddenly she up and left to an island that she and her husband owned just right outside the channel, and never came back.”

“And now she uses messages in bottles to communicate with people?” Joni pondered.

“Nobody could figure out what they mean. They all have these series of numbers on them and just one word,” Jenna lowered her voice down to a whisper, “Rosebud.”

“Have you, like, tried talking to her?” Owen had finished his muffin and his clam chowder in one go, and is now dabbing mouth on the napkin offered to him.

“I sometimes leave a bag of groceries for her on her island by her home but whenever I try to talk to her, she…… wouldn’t answer.”

“Did she leave anything behind that could help us decode her messages?” Joni wondered again.

“She left everything behind. Problem is, they’re all either sold, given away or thrown out. If you kids are gonna decode her messages, be my guest, but looks like you’re all on your own.”


	7. What Hilda Wants

The Cluefinders came back to find Katie Firestone still trying to fix her boat engine. They showed her the piece of plywood they found on the beach.

“Ouch! The splinters are still sharp,” Katie cried out when she touched the wood. 

“Yes, be careful,” Joni warned.

“This looks like it has just been in the water recently. Otherwise the edges would be dull. Hey, why don’t you call Casey Porterfield from the Maritime Library in Port Townsend. He may have some ideas for you about this piece of wood. He loves checking out stuff like this. His number’s on my list in the bunk.”

“Sure thing!” they agreed.

As they went down into the bunk, Owen decided to check out the stuff in the mini fridge. He opened the ajar door by the bunk and flipped the box open. “Looks like whatever’s in here is starting to defrost.” He could just make out the outlines of some fish coated in ice.

“Hey, Katie,” he heard Joni from above the bunk. “Can you tell us a little more about Benjamin Hawkins, the guy who made the ship in the bottle at Whale World?” 

“It just so happens I was doing some research on him. Back in the 1800s, he used to have some major feud with some sea-captain — rumours say he’s an ex-pirate — right here on this island. He would see the captain’s ship sailing on the horizon, and he would grab his family and his valuables and go into hiding for days until the coast is clear.”

“Right here on this island? Where? How? What did he hide? What was the feud about?” the curious friends ask. Owen sometimes wishes he can think of an intelligent question to ask folks but it doesn’t always come to him. All he has are his lucky hunches that help the team solve their mysteries by finding answers instead of questions.

“Nobody knows,” Katie replied. “They say his hideout is somewhere on this island, and who knows what he and his family might have left behind.”

The gang thanked her for the information and decided to give that Casey Portferfield a call.

“Maritime Library. This is Casey.”

“Hello,” Joni started the call. “We’re the Cluefinders and we’re visiting Katie Firestone at Snake Horse Harbour. She told us you might help us identify this piece of driftwood we found on the beach, and where it came from.”

“Never heard of her.”

“Oh.”

“I know a marine biologist called Katie Firestone.”

“Yes, that’s her. She thought you could help us with this thing.”

“Oh! I see. What does the wood look like?

“It’s, uh, sharp, and reddish, and it’s got the words S.S. on it. Think it means anything?”

“S.S……. That stands for steamship. And what kind of wood are we talking about?”

Joni looked at the sharp, splintered thing poking out of her backpack zipper. “I don’t know. Old?”

There was laughter at the other end of the line. “I’m sorry, Cluefinder-person. But for a moment there I thought you said ‘old’.”

“Uh…… yes. That’s exactly what I said.”

More laughter. “You’re about as much use as a beanie in a hurricane. If you’re gonna want me to identify where the wood broke off from, you’re gonna have to tell me what type of wood it is!”

“But…… I don’t know.” Joni found herself, well, clueless for once in her life.

“Well, get a book on wood and find out,” Casey exclaimed. “Maybe Katie has one. Call me back when you’ve figured it out. I love checking out stuff like this.” And he hung up.

Joni turned to her friends and explained what they have to do.

Leslie then remembered the book on Arboreal Morphology she had done some light reading on helping Katie put all the books back into her drawer. “Hey, there’s a phone number of the author of this book on plant cells I was reading. Maybe we should give her a call.” Leslie pulled out the book from the drawer and punched the number into their phone.

The identification process went smoothly with Dr. Irina Predoviviu. The Cluefinders were required to look at a sample of the wood under a microscope (Katie’s boat had everything!) to identify the wood over the phone. Then they answered some questions about the wood’s colour, the number of holes in i, the size of the holes, and if there were any visible lines on the sample. 

“Luan,” said the doctor. “You’ve got a tropical hardwood. But it’s popularity in crating and driftwood-making has been declining as of late.”

“Luan,” Joni repeated. “Okay, thank you, doctor.” Now they can call back Casey.

“Sorry, can’t talk. I’m waiting for a very important call from the Cluefinders.”

“Uhhh, that’s us. And we’re calling you right now, about the driftwood,” Santiago explained.

“Oh! That’s great. So what kind of wood are we talking about?”

“Luan.”

“Luan, eh? If I’m not mistaken that wood is used to make cargo containers and could have come from a shipwreck somewhere in your area. Call me back in an hour or so. Identifying what cargo container it came from is vital to identifying what ship it came from.”

“You… you can identify a ship from its cargo containers?” Santiago was puzzled.

“Ever since the hobo spider got into the U.S. from Europe by laying eggs into the containers’ wood, officials have been keeping real close and accurate records on which ship brings in what. But of course, I’ll be taking in factors like tides, shipwrecks that happened around Snake Horse Harbour, weather conditions, proximity to Snake Horse Harbour, too. So call me back in an hour. I’ll help. I promise.”

Santiago was touched and amazed by Casey Portferfield’s research range, interest and capabilities. “We really appreciate you doing this for us, Casey.”

“And well, you should!” And the library researcher hung up.

Now all that’s left to do is to go kayaking with Holt Scotto’s GPS.

The Cluefinders put on their life jackets and got into their kayaks. They decided to stick close together out on the water since all five of them including Laptrap are sharing the same GPS. 

About a few feet out from Katie’s boat, Owen spotted something floating in the water. “Hey, it’s another one fnthose messages in a bottle.” He rowed closer to it, picked it up, removed the cork and pulled out the message. “ ‘W 123, Rosebud’. It’s another bit of coordinates for us. You were right, Joni. They ARE coordinates. This W here means West.” 

“Great. If we can find the full set of them in maybe one more bottle, we can punch them into the GPS and see where in takes us.”

The young mystery-solvers kept rowing — stuck closely together — out into the channel, taking care not to go past the channel markers. They found a sea cave, some distance from Katie’s boat and (perhaps) directly under the Lighthouse. They went into the dim, damp and saltwater-smelling cave and found another bottle in a wider space of water.

“ ‘N or North 48, Rosebud’. Hey, let’s punch the numbers in now.” Santiago was eager to put their borrowed device to work. 

They punched in the full set of coordinates from all the messages in bottles they found: N 48’ 42.517, W 123’ 08.615, though they have yet to figure out what Rosebud means. Another waypoint appeared on the screen. It appears to be about one mile northeast of Katie’s boat. “Let’s go!”

They paddled out of the cave, avoided getting too close to the channel markers and navigated their way to a mysterious, wet and sandy island. There they found a few things on the beach just at the Lighthouse beach, but a bit more. There were no pieces of driftwood or crabs, but there were more little holes in the ground, stuff and tools and toys to build sandcastles that someone left there and never came back for them (weird). 

There was also a little rock pond with specimens like starfishes, sea anemones, and a cute little orange fish that tickles when it swims against your skin (they tested…… and laughed. And then laughed some more at the way each other laughed). And there was also a mysterious shell-shaped box hidden beneath a curtain of seaweed. 

Upon closer examination, the Cluefinders saw that there were buttons of Maritime Signal Flags on the front of the box, each button with a different flag. Maybe this is what the mysterious word Rosebud is meant for. With Leslie’s knowledge on Maritime Signal Flags and the International Flag Code (and some more nagging about reading more posters and postcards), they unlocked the box.

Three pieces of paper were inside. One was a series of letter Ps and Ss on them, where P means Port and S is Starboard (representing the left and right sides of a boat respectively). The second piece of paper had a written story of Alpha the Dog. Some capital letters were bolded that Leslie suspected is the International Communication Alphabet hidden in plain sight. She wrote all the words, and letters, down on her notepad and spelled out the message “ASK HS AJ JD FOR HILDAS GIFT”. The third piece of paper was a letter from Hilda Swenson, Snake Horse Harbour’s “residential nutjob”.

Joni volunteered to read it out loud. The gist of the letter was this: Hilda has two big secrets she’s willing to share with the lucky one(s) who have come this far and is reading this letter. She wants them to send her something in Morse Code from the top of the Lighthouse (yes, the Cluefinders will have to find a way to get into the Lighthouse without Holt Scotto catching them). As for what to send, the Alpha the Dog story she whipped up may help. And that they shouldn’t try any funny stuff because she’s watching their every move, at every moment.

The Cluefinders scratched their heads and rubbed their chins. This woman may be “crazy” to the locals of Snake Horse Harbour, but she certainly loves testing the mines and brain powers of those who are still sane.


	8. Hilda's Gifts

“ASK HS AJ JD FOR HILDAS GIFT”. That’s a lead they can follow. They rowed back to Katie’s boat, got on their bikes and set off to the Hot Kettle Cafe. 

Holt and Jenna were still there. Holt is back from his campaign meeting at Swenson Hall, it seems. Good. The Cluefinders approached him first.

“Excuse me, sir. But did Hilda Swenson gave you gift?” Laptrap asked politely.

“So what if she did? And I still don’t know what are you,” he pointed at the turtle.

“I am a Turbo T.U.R.T.L.E., and I would LOVE to take a look at what Hilda gave to you,” the robot beamed.

“Okay, okay.” Whatever Laptrap is, Holt is relenting to him. “Heh, yu kids sure are a demanding little bunch, ain’t cha? Alright. Tell ya what. Here.” He pulled out a piece of paper — oh, no. Not another seamanship quiz — and handed it to the ClueFinders. “This piece of chess problem has been vexing me since Day One. Help me out with it, and I’ll let you see what Hilda gave me. Feel free to look inside my duffle for that chess box for some tips on how it’s played.”

Leslie was beginning to like this guy. One look and she could see it — Royal Flush Card Games, Master Chess, Sailing and Fishing…… he has a book for anything and everything in his duffle.

Now it was Jenna’s turn. The gang asked the owner-slash-chef-slash-cashier about her gift.

“It was a necklace. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever owned or been given. But I left it at home and it’s way across town. And I’m also running low on clams which means I have to go clamming before I even think about doing anything else.”

“How about we go clamming for you?” Owen, always the foodie, suggested. Laptrap nodded eagerly the way a flying rectangular laptop could nod. He decided clams and clamming can’t be as scary or as dangerous as encountering a turtle. 

“Alright, it’s a deal. You help me get those clams — fifteen oughta do — and I’ll scoop up that necklace for you first chance I get.”

Now there’s Andy Jason and his gift left. The crew rode over to Whale World and thankfully it was not closed for lunch (it’s now midday after all). Andy greeted them warmly and asked their business. Andy explained that Hilda was, once upon a time, quite the graphic artist who gave him the design to create for the complementary keychains he gave out to customers. The gang asked for theirs as they have went on a Whale Watching Tour as a prize from the games they played.

“Actually, I only give them out to paying customers.”

Joni decided to try the offense tactic. “Now why did the term ‘false advertising’ suddenly come to mind?” she said.

“Okay, okay. Whatever you kids say.” And they got it. Just like that. Good going, Joni!

Each keychain had the letters T, R, E, and N on them but nobody could figure out what it means.

They followed up by asking for a clamming permit, as according to a question and its answer on the seamanship quiz, the fine for clamming without a permit is $138.43. “I’m sorry, kids. But filing a permit means paperwork, and I’m really, really busy right now. Unless I have a volunteer……”

“You just got yourself four,” Owen quipped.

“Okay, then. Look behind you.” They turned. “That display on the shelf there is supposed to show what our very own local monster Caddy may look like in skeletal form. Help me complete the display and I’ll give you not just a permit, but free trough as well.”

The Cluefinders got to work. Each piece of bone seemed to not fit wherever they put it, in whatever angle or direction. But once they worked which bones or shapes should form the neck, tail, head, fin and ribs, piecing the whole body together became easy. Andy was impressed with their job and gave them their permit and trough.

“Now we can go clamming!” Laptrap excitedly exclaimed.

They decided to try the beach near the Lighthouse first. The sand there is damp and makes the perfect burrow or hideout for the little yellow, cucumber-shaped clams. Andy had given them some clamming advice to look for little holes in the ground. Yup, that’s what the holes are for. The gang made a mental note to go look for more at the mysterious beach they now call “Hilda’s Beach” for more clams later on.

Among the non-clam items they found in the sand included, dry fish bones (ew!), some dog collar tags with the name ‘Malone’ on it (strange name for a dog), a few shells, and sometimes nothing but pure sand. “A day late and a sand dollar short,” Joni said once when she thought another clam had escaped her. But the kid, with Laptrap’s help somehow, managed to find four on Lighthouse Beach.

“Let’s hope eleven more are waiting for us at Hilda’s Beach,” Owen hopped. And sure enough, after some more biking and kayaking, they found all fifteen clams altogether and docked back at Katie’s boat happily.

That was when an alert on Joni’s phone creminded her to call Casey Portfield back about the driftwood. 

“I found the name of the steamship the piece of driftwood came from! It’s called the S.S. Whitechapel Dawn and it and its cargo sank some five years ago in the channel by Snake Horse Harbour, just one and a half miles due northwest of the Lighthouse.”

“Sank? How deep?” Joni asked.

“REEEEEEEEEAL deep water. Too deep for currents to carry debris and broken pieces of cargo container wood to the surface. This is the part that doesn’t add up.”

“Tell us everything else you know."

It’s just some regular freighter bound for San Francisco from Vancouver, British Columbia. Nothing strange about it all, if you don’t count the smuggling……”

“The Whitechapel Dawn was smuggling something?”

After it sank, the crew members — all of them survived by the way — said there was something weird about the cargo they were carrying, that’s all. No specifics, just rumours. Official cause of the sinking was foul weather. But whenever a boat goes down or something happens out on the water, or even on land, they blame it on that who? Some sea monster……?”

“Caddy? Short for Cadborosaurus?”

“No thanks, I’m full. Caddy. That’s right, Caddy!”

“Figures. When people get shanghaied on land they blamed Caddy, too.”

“Also, I just got done emailing you something.”

“What is it?”

“I SAID, I JUST GOT DONE EMAILING YOU SOMETHING.”

“Okay, thank you.” And the line went off.

Casey rocks at hearing but stinks at LISTENING. “I really hope he doesn’t operate heavy machinery,” Joni muttered to herself.

The link in the email lead them to a Jacob Bombeck, Glass Artisan’s website, and there was a picture of the Hot Kettle Cafe on it. It was apparently known as the Royal Flush Saloon back in the day and was founded by a shrewd businessman called Silas Deblin (yes, Jenna’s ancestor). Bombeck, who was commissioned by Deblin, had created stained glass art for the establishment that Deblin had intended to appeal to all social classes. The upperclassmen would look appreciate the art for art while it would look like tasty pieces of candy for the lowerclassmen. Shrewd. Really shrewd, Silas Deblin.

“Doesn’t matter what class I belong in back then. Those stained glass windows would always look like big colourful pieces of candy to me,” Owen mused.

Business flourished at the cafe until, apparently, rumours of able-bodied men being shanghaied and gone missing from the cafe caused business to decline.

“I hope they were just rumours,” Santiago worried. “More shanghaiing can’t be good for Jenna’s business or for public safety right now.”

“You think the lone orca did it, Santiago?” Owen asked. Everyone groaned.

“I wonder if the Royal Flush Saloon, or the Hot Kettle Cafe, has anything to do with the Royal Flush book I saw in Holt’s duffle bag,” Leslie wondered.


	9. Entering The Lighthouse

The Cluefinders went back to the Hot Kettle Cafe for another small munchtime and to give. the clams to Jenna.

While waiting for Jenna to be free from kitchen duties, the Cluefinders worked on the chess puzzle. Holt had gone away, to another emergency Harbourmaster meeting, probably, and had left his duffle behind. The kids found not much help out of the books to their puzzle, but they noticed the numbers 3-4-7-5 written on a purple sticky note peeking out from one page of the book. Perhaps it is the code to the Lighthouse lock!

They managed to solve the chess puzzle with two moves for the White pieces, by moving piece R (for Rook) to grid H5 and then R again to H7. Then they waited for Holt to come back. 

Owen messed with fun little toy box he found on an empty seat in the meantime. It contained the necklace Hilda gave to Jenna. He matched the pictures of food (his favourite kind of food) across all three screens and the box opened up to reveal the most beautiful necklace he had ever seen.

'Wowzers. It is beautiful. But what do the letters E.L.E.P.H. mean?" He tried putting the necklace on, but figured that it didn’t suit his taste. He put the necklace and box back and told his friends what he found.

Jenna came out and happily took the clams off them. Then she told them about a burglary that happened in the cafe while she was out. The sheriff just left after inspecting the place. Both doors were locked before she left, no windows were broken and no locks were jimmied. "It's like a ghost did it," she said. And not just food, but boat parts and tools were also missing. 

"Bummer. You went out to get your necklace and we being you some clams and like, some of your stuff just like, ghosted on you. This is really weird."

The gang had long gotten used to Owen's puns. Rather than sitting around and tried to digest the bad news, they asked Jenna if perhaps the sheriff must have missed something. "If you kids wanna play detective, please be my guest."

"Good, 'cause that's what we do." Joni got up from her seat and went straight into the section reserved for the Snake Horse Harbour Annual Party.

The section was a mess. Photo frames were tilted on the wall. Pieces of table cloth were ripped and a salt sprinkler on one table was tipped over. Leslie, Santiago and Laptrap hovered by some pictures and newspaper cuttings on the wall to read about the history of Snake Horse Harbour and its Lighthouse.

At one end of the room, contents were spilling out of a storage room. Joni went over to inspect what was left.

"SaveKing……"

"That's where Katie shops, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Santiago. Hey, do you think this is more than just a coincidence?"

"What do you mean?"

Think about it. Jenna and Katie don't like each other, and Katie dhot her mouth off at the meeting last night. What if Jenna sabotaged Katie's boat and Katie broke into the Hot Kettle Cafe steal the boat parts to fix her own engine? What if they both did it to get back at each other?

"Are-are you saying that Katie did NOT get those supplies by actually shopping at SaveKing?"

"If SaveKing, a grocery store - I did some research on Laptrap before we got here - sells boat parts and tools as well, then maybe, yes."

Santiago gulped. Is there anything about this "friend" of theirs that they don't know but should?

Joni climbed out of the closet. "Can we all investigate this cafe a little later? There's something I'd like to do first."

The team found themselves back at the Lighthouse. The old metal swinging on the rod was still making the ding-ding-ding sounds as it swung back and forth, hitting the other metal next to it. Joni had written down Holt's code in her hand and for the first time, they're going to break into the Lighthouse. Hoping that Holt isn't there at the moment, they snooped past the guarding fence.

Just as the first of them stepped past the opening, a few tiny bits of concrete fell onto the floor in front of them. "Hey what the-?" The gang looked up to see, just in time, a large slab of concrete falling right onto them. "YIKES!" They jumped back and landed on top of each other, the old, dull, heavy concrete missing then by inches.

"Yowzers. And to think we were like, worried about Holt Scotto showing up out of nowhere the most."

"Maybe we should stay out here, far away and safely," Leslie, the sensible one, cautioned her friends.

But Joni's not the type to be frightened or discouraged from exploring strange places. She got up, apologized to her friends underneath her, dusted herself off, looked around to make sure no one was watching or following them, and went to punch in the code on the lock. "3-4-7-5." The lock fell off and she entered the old building.

"Be careful, Joni!" Santiago warned.

It was just as old on the inside as on the outside. A broken chair and dusty table were the first things they saw. The next was a furnace with a switch hidden inside in (the last person there forgot to close the lid on the furnace that concealed the switch). They heard something heavy move but weren't sure what it was. They decided to climb up to the top of the Lighthouse.

The room at the top was so small and the ladder so narrow only one person could explore it at a time. It looked like someone really messy has been hanging out, or hiding out here lately. Joni held her breath as she surveyed the cans of unfinished drinks (yuck) and a half-eaten chocolate bar (YUCK!) on a table with a small calendar on it. And on the calendar today's date was circled.

She also saw the Lighthouse's main light source and an equipment used to send Morse Coded messages. She was instantly reminded of Hilda's message on Hilda's Beach. She was still not sure what is it that Hilda wanted her group of friends to send her in Morse Code at the top of the Lighthouse, but she decided to test out the bulb next to the Morse Code machine anyway.

"Ouch!" She cried when she turned it on. Looks like the bulb burned out. I wonder if Santiago has a spare one he can use to replace this one?"

She got down from the top and left the Lighthouse. Her friends stood a safe distance from anymore falling concrete and rickety old ladders. She filled her friends in with what she saw and asked them if they noticed any changes to the Lighthouse on the outside when she flipped the switch on the inside. And no, Santiago had no spare light bulbs with him.

"I think a big door at the side of the Lighthouse opened, to where the dinging sound is coming from," Owen pointed. "Maybe you should go check it out, but carefully, Joni. Holt's right. This building is like, centuries old and anything can just be falling off and landing on top of you."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." And she set off towards the dinging sound.

Santiago shook his head. Joni, always the daredevil. The team had found themselves headfirst in some trouble because of her. But then again, without her gutsiness, where would the team be without her?

Joni went to the side of the building and saw that a large door opened from the switch, revealing a staircase leading down below. The stairs led to a secret room beneath the Lighthouse. It had nothing but a blocked door at the end. It had what looked like a puzzle — an incomplete picture of a snake, and the words “Though the efforts of many built the wall seen here” inscribed on it. The secret room also had a table with nothing but lightbulbs on it. “Just what I needed!” Joni cried out.

The redhead decided that she her friends’ short shock-and-concrete-induced break is over. They can join, no, will join her on this adventure whether they like it or not!

There were eight lightbulbs in the box on the table. She ordered Laptrap to carry the box and fly up to the top of the Lighthouse. Then she made Santiago, the tech guy, climb up and try out every lightbulb onto the Morse Code machine until one fits just right and works.

“Done it! I’ve fixed the machine,” Santiago announced from above. “Now what message do we send Hilda?”

Back outside the Lighthouse, at a safe distance again, the Cluefinders gathered and thought about it. ASK HS AJ JD FOR HIDAS GIFTS. Hilda’s gifts…… So far they have only seen Andy Jason’s keychain with the letters T, R, E, N on it and E, L, E, P, H on Jenna’s necklace. “Which leaves just Holt Scotto at the cafe,” Joni concluded. “Let’s get back there to see if he’s back so we can give him his chess puzzle and get a look and what Hilda gave him.”


	10. Into The Tunnels

“How can the members of the Snake Horse Harbour Club be partying here and not notice any trap door or whatever that the thieves could get in?”

“Well, Owen. We’ve seen you party, and, let us tell ya, when people party, they can NOT notice what’s hidden under their nose, all along. Also, trap doors are not supposed to be that obvious,” Laptrap teased as his young human friends looked around the ransacked section of the cafe. Jenna calls it the banquet section. It was more believable to think that some of the Snake Horse Harbour members has caused the burglary rather than a “ghost”. 

“Pfft. I party the hardest among y’all, and y’all know that.”

As the Cluefinders looked around the cafe, Joni noticed an interesting designed panel on the wall. She noticed there were a few of them on each wall in the cafe — in the main and banquet section. She stepped up to one and realised it had a handle and it can be flipped open, while the nearest one next to it, not.

She flipped the one with the handle open and saw symbols of what looked like a deck of playing or Poker cards. The heart, the diamond, the spade and the tree. It was all there.

Joni recalled spotting a book of card games in Holt’s duffle. She and Leslie decided to take a look (since Holt is still not back yet but his duffle is there). A bit quick reading taught them that the Royal Flush — where the same shapes of a King, Queen, Jester, the Ace of Spades, and a 10 is obtained — is the highest combination a player can get in a game of Poker. 

The girls decided, and discussed with the boys, that pushing on the puzzle tiles until they get a Royal Flush combination might trigger something to happen. Each Cluefinder went to an openable panel on the wall and got to work. When they finished, they were right. They heard the sound of gears grinding. They went back to the banquet section and found the table with the overturned salt sprinkler has been “dragged” into the wall, revealing a secret trap door beneath it.

Maybe that’s how the burglars and the shanghaiers got in. “Let’s see where it leads!” Santiago exclaimed.

They looked down into it. It appears to be an entrance to a secret tunnel, but it was too dark to see. The Cluefinders whipped out their handy flashlights (that always bring with them on a case just in case) and began exploring, ignoring Laptrap’s usual protests, complaints and hesitation. 

The underground tunnels were dark, but they could make out a few cairns (a pile of stone arranged neatly, one on top of another) at every junction they came across. They counted four cairns in total, one at a dead end. The tunnels at two different ends, they discovered, led to Blue Dew Outfitters and Harbour Hardware, the shops on the same street.

“These tunnels must really be how the burglars managed to steal their things and vanish without a trace,” Leslie concluded. 

“And the shanghaiing,” Joni put in.

“I wonder if Jenna knows anything about this,” Owen mused.

“Business can’t be good for her if the world finds out,” Santiago agreed.

At one junction at a cairn, the Cluefinders noticed the tunnel to their right stretches far ahead — so far ahead they can’t see where it leads. They checked to see if their flashlights (and Laptrap’s eyes) had enough batteries and power. Then they mentally prepared themselves for potentially making a long journey. Then they set off in that mysterious direction, together.

They found themselves by another (the fifth) cairn. At another junction. They must have walked for miles. 

“Phew, I’m beat,” Santiago sighed.

“My feet hurt,” Joni complained.

“Mine, too,” Owen backed her up.

“I’m glad we all chose to wear comfortable shoes for this ‘relaxing’ trip,” Leslie commented.

“And I’m glad I could fly!” Laptrap, who didn’t have to worry about sore feet and aching muscles, chirped, his flashlight eyes beaming in the dark.

Venturing into the left side of the cairn they saw a strange rock that looked like an anvil (they dubbed it the “Anvil Rock”), and forward of the cairn they came across a door and a box of oil cans. 

“We can use one of these cans to spray onto the rusted Morse Code machine at the Lighthouse and make it work!” Santiago thought out loud. So they kept one.

They flipped the switch and opened the door and found themselves, a little onwards, staring at the back side of the large door under the Lighthouse. The words “It takes but two to make it disappear” were inscribed on it and the picture puzzle revealed the rest of the snake.

“Hey dudes, y’know what I’m thinking? If the Lighthouse and the rest of the puzzle is on the other side, that means we’ve crossed a tunnel connecting the Hot Kettle Cafe with the Lighthouse and the two shops where the burglaries happened. Cool!”

“I’m figuring as much, Owen. I wonder what could the thieves get their hands on from the Lighthouse?”

“Maybe that half-finished can of drink and chocolate bar belonged to the thieves, too. They are certainly thieving, messy, dirty, disorganised, and very sneaky,” Joni stated.

“So how do we solve this picture puzzle. Did we touch the other side, Joni?”

“No, I don’t think we did. Let’s mess around on this side anyway and see what happens.” Sure enough, their messing around made another set of gears grind. It sounded like it came from the other side of the door. That means back to the secret room under the Lighthouse to see what they made happened. “Another trap door, I presume? I wonder where it leads to this time,” Owne chuckled.

And that also means taking the long way back to the Hot Kettle Cafe (ugh), since that is where they left their bicycles.

Back inside the cafe, the Cluefinders hoped they have seen and explored everything they have to see and explore in the tunnels so they don’t have to walk for miles again. And just as luck had it, Holt is back. He accepted their completed chess puzzle and let them have a look at his gift. It was an object with a handle made of scrimshaw that Hilda had carved herself. It had the letters “O.N.E.B.U.M.” on it.

This is great! The Cluefinders had seen all the gifts and all the letters on it. Now back to Katie’s boat for a little break. After exploring tunnels and being in the dark for so long, being on land under the sunlight is what they’re craving for now.


	11. Into The Tunnels

“How can the members of the Snake Horse Harbour Club be partying here and not notice any trap door or whatever that the thieves could get in?”

“Well, Owen. We’ve seen you party, and, let us tell ya, when people party, they can NOT notice what’s hidden under their nose, all along. Also, trap doors are not supposed to be that obvious,” Laptrap teased as his young human friends looked around the ransacked section of the cafe. Jenna calls it the banquet section. It was more believable to think that some of the Snake Horse Harbour members has caused the burglary rather than a “ghost”. 

“Pfft. I party the hardest among y’all, and y’all know that.”

As the Cluefinders looked around the cafe, Joni noticed an interesting designed panel on the wall. She noticed there were a few of them on each wall in the cafe — in the main and banquet section. She stepped up to one and realised it had a handle and it can be flipped open, while the nearest one next to it, not.

She flipped the one with the handle open and saw symbols of what looked like a deck of playing or Poker cards. The heart, the diamond, the spade and the tree. It was all there.

Joni recalled spotting a book of card games in Holt’s duffle. She and Leslie decided to take a look (since Holt is still not back yet but his duffle is there). A bit quick reading taught them that the Royal Flush — where the same shapes of a King, Queen, Jester, the Ace of Spades, and a 10 is obtained — is the highest combination a player can get in a game of Poker. 

The girls decided, and discussed with the boys, that pushing on the puzzle tiles until they get a Royal Flush combination might trigger something to happen. Each Cluefinder went to an openable panel on the wall and got to work. When they finished, they were right. They heard the sound of gears grinding. They went back to the banquet section and found the table with the overturned salt sprinkler has been “dragged” into the wall, revealing a secret trap door beneath it.

Maybe that’s how the burglars and the shanghaiers got in. “Let’s see where it leads!” Santiago exclaimed.

They looked down into it. It appears to be an entrance to a secret tunnel, but it was too dark to see. The Cluefinders whipped out their handy flashlights (that always bring with them on a case just in case) and began exploring, ignoring Laptrap’s usual protests, complaints and hesitation. 

The underground tunnels were dark, but they could make out a few cairns (a pile of stone arranged neatly, one on top of another) at every junction they came across. They counted four cairns in total, one at a dead end. The tunnels at two different ends, they discovered, led to Blue Dew Outfitters and Harbour Hardware, the shops on the same street.

“These tunnels must really be how the burglars managed to steal their things and vanish without a trace,” Leslie concluded. 

“And the shanghaiing,” Joni put in.

“I wonder if Jenna knows anything about this,” Owen mused.

“Business can’t be good for her if the world finds out,” Santiago agreed.

At one junction at a cairn, the Cluefinders noticed the tunnel to their right stretches far ahead — so far ahead they can’t see where it leads. They checked to see if their flashlights (and Laptrap’s eyes) had enough batteries and power. Then they mentally prepared themselves for potentially making a long journey. Then they set off in that mysterious direction, together.

They found themselves by another (the fifth) cairn. At another junction. They must have walked for miles. 

“Phew, I’m beat,” Santiago sighed.

“My feet hurt,” Joni complained.

“Mine, too,” Owen backed her up.

“I’m glad we all chose to wear comfortable shoes for this ‘relaxing’ trip,” Leslie commented.

“And I’m glad I could fly!” Laptrap, who didn’t have to worry about sore feet and aching muscles, chirped, his flashlight eyes beaming in the dark.

Venturing into the left side of the cairn they saw a strange rock that looked like an anvil (they dubbed it the “Anvil Rock”), and forward of the cairn they came across a door and a box of oil cans. 

“We can use one of these cans to spray onto the rusted Morse Code machine at the Lighthouse and make it work!” Santiago thought out loud. So they kept one.

They flipped the switch and opened the door and found themselves, a little onwards, staring at the back side of the large door under the Lighthouse. The words “It takes but two to make it disappear” were inscribed on it and the picture puzzle revealed the rest of the snake.

“Hey dudes, y’know what I’m thinking? If the Lighthouse and the rest of the puzzle is on the other side, that means we’ve crossed a tunnel connecting the Hot Kettle Cafe with the Lighthouse and the two shops where the burglaries happened. Cool!”

“I’m figuring as much, Owen. I wonder what could the thieves get their hands on from the Lighthouse?”

“Maybe that half-finished can of drink and chocolate bar belonged to the thieves, too. They are certainly thieving, messy, dirty, disorganised, and very sneaky,” Joni stated.

“So how do we solve this picture puzzle. Did we touch the other side, Joni?”

“No, I don’t think we did. Let’s mess around on this side anyway and see what happens.” Sure enough, their messing around made another set of gears grind. It sounded like it came from the other side of the door. That means back to the secret room under the Lighthouse to see what they made happened. “Another trap door, I presume? I wonder where it leads to this time,” Owne chuckled.

And that also means taking the long way back to the Hot Kettle Cafe (ugh), since that is where they left their bicycles.

Back inside the cafe, the Cluefinders hoped they have seen and explored everything they have to see and explore in the tunnels so they don’t have to walk for miles again. And just as luck had it, Holt is back. He accepted their completed chess puzzle and let them have a look at his gift. It was an object with a handle made of scrimshaw that Hilda had carved herself. It had the letters “O.N.E.B.U.M.” on it.

This is great! The Cluefinders had seen all the gifts and all the letters on it. Now back to Katie’s boat for a little break. After exploring tunnels and being in the dark for so long, being on land under the sunlight is what they’re craving for now.


	12. Where's Katie?

The Cluefinders kayaked back to the docks to find Katie’s boat gone. Like it just vanished into the fog. She must have gone out to sea to…… do who knows what. Who else has a boat and is willing to take them out to sea — Holt Scotto, Jenna Deblin or Andy Jason? 

Holt’s staying put — it’s getting dark and the fog’s rolling in. Jenna had a cafe to run, even though there’s nothing she would like better than to help them get the goods on “Miss High-And-Mighty” and should try Andy Jason. The Whale World owner agreed — phew, at last. The Cluefinders have got him so curious with their sudden demand that he just couldn’t say no. “You just got yourself a boat ride.” 

He took them out to sea on his Whale Watching Tour boat. He parked some distance off a ship one mile and a half due northwest of the Lighthouse and Snake Horse Harbour. “Be careful. I’ll be waiting right here,” he whispered to the Cluefinders. In the darkness of the night, hidden in the thick fog, they rowed quietly until they reached a ladder of steps at the side of the ship and began climbing up, one by one, rung by rung. Stealthily.

As they neared the top of the ladder, the Cluefinders heard some voices. They stopped and listened.

“Whale’s making her final dive,” the first voice said.

“Good,” replied the second voice. “The launch just brought in the last of the stuff that was stored in the sea cave. Another hour and we’ll be outta here.”

Which means our heroes have only one hour to stop whatever’s going on.

They checked that the coast is clear, and boarded the ship and ducked into the shadows. Laptrap flew low and dared not utter a sound. If a crew member spots them they are TOAST!

They sneaked behind some boxes of cargo from the S.S. Whitechapel Dawn and heard some more voices. “Whatcha eating?” the first voice asked. “Beef jerky,” came the reply. “Liberated it from that camping supply place. Ya want some?”

“Still can’t believe you robbed those stores. The boss was fit to be tied.” “Yeah, but being down there in all those tunnels and trap doors with no one around and nobody suspecting a thing? It was like being a kid in a candy store. Couldn’t help myself!” And he continued munching.

The Cluefinders waited until the hungry crewman and his companion walked away, and they peeked around the corner. They saw a cargo crate with the lid broken off. Carefully, Laptrap flew over and took a look inside. “Animal furs!” he flew back whispered to the team.

Moving slowly in the shadows, a bit further on, they heard another exchange of voices. “Hey, no snoozing. Boss says these Cluefinder kids are real troublemakers, always snoppin’ around where they shouldn’t.” “Like they’re gonna materialise here any time now.” The Cluefinders held back some sneaky giggles. “I’m just tellin’ you what the boss told me. Now keep your eyes peeled. Can’t be too careful now.”

The crewmen walked away, making it safe for the “troublemakers” to move on. The kept their head low and made their way to the shadows by a tall, thick metal pillar. They squatted and listened.

“Where did you put the notebook?” “Boss has it.” “Nice of Hilda Nutjob to leave it behind like that, huh?” “Couldn’t pull this whole thing off without it for sure.” 

The Cluefinders saw some stairs leading below and climbed down. They opened a large door with a wheel as a lock and entered. There was a pool in the middle of the chamber, and the orca they saw earlier in the sea caves popped out in the middle of it.

“Hello, orca!” Laptrap cried, but Joni hushed him. “Oh, I mean, hello, orca,” he said in low tones.

They continued into another metal door by the pool, and saw Katie Firestone gagged and tied up onto an office chair by a working desk.

Santiago quickly ungagged her and she told them everything. She had fixed her boat engine, finally, and went out to check on the orca, only the fog was rolling in and it was getting dark. She finally saw the whale, but she was being fed by some strange men on an outboard who were also busy putting a harness of some sort on her. Then the men saw Katie, rammed into her boat, captured her and brought her here, then tied and gagged her up. “I have no idea what is going on!”

“I think I know what’s going on,” Joni smirked. “They’re using the whale to bring up smuggled cargo of animal furs from a shipwreck!” 

Footsteps. “Shhh, listen. Someone’s coming. Hide! Hide!”

The kids ran and squeezed themselves into a large box in a small corner of the room. Through the gap in between larger boxes, they saw a tall figure walk into the room and stood in front of Katie, gloating over her. 

Andy Jason.

“Well, well, Katie. It looks like your friends The Cluefinders will be joining you soon. About any time now. Hey, how did you get that gag off?” Realisation hit the villain. “Well, it appears that they are already here. Alright, where are you children? Kiddieeeeeees?” he sang out and began prancing around the cargo room.

“If we can make it back to our kayaks, we can go get help,” Owen whispered to his friends. They snuck around the boxes and waited until Andy’s back was turned towards them. “Alright, any minute now,” Joni started. “Three, two, one, now!”

The Cluefinders rushed out of the room from their hiding spot. Andy spotted them and called his crewmen to stop them. Laptrap flew as quickly as he can. Just as he, ahead of his friends, was about to reach the door with the wheel lock on it, it slammed in his face.

The Cluefinders were cornered, and Andy Jason had cornered them.

“Well, well. Look who we have here,” he sneered.

We knew it was you all along,” Leslie boldly confronted him. “A-And we told Holt and Jenna. If anything happens to us, they’ll know you did it.”

“Nice try, girlie. But I can smell a bluff a mile away.” Andy walked towards them. “You kids are about to become the victims of an unfortunate kayaking accident. Or maybe I’ll just tell my customers that Snake Horse got you. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.”

“Oh, no. Not Caddy again,” Laptrap groaned.

As the orca watched helplessly, Andy clenched and unclenched his fists as if he was preparing to strangle the children — all of them. Our heros had nowhere to run. Owen saw a yellow oxygen tank on a table by the pool. Thinking quickly, he tossed the tank into the pool.

“What did you do that for?” Andy mocked him. “Say good night, kiddies.” And the oxygen tank went flying from the side into Andy’s face, knocking him out flat. The orca had knocked the tank back out of the water as if the Cluefinders were just playing another game of fetch with her with the beach ball in the sea caves.

“Way to go, buddy. You saved us!” Owen shouted at the orca. The orca squealed back in classic Killer-Whale fashion, as if to say “you’re welcome”, and dived back underwater. The Cluefinders cheered and slapped Owen on the back for his clever quick wit.

And like a saving grace, they heard a voice coming through a ship’s megaphone from the outside.

“Cluefinders? Cluefinders, are you on board? This is Holt Scotto. I’m here with the Coast Guard. Cluefinders!”

***

“What an adventure,” Joni said on the ferry bound for home.

“Yeah. It was a pretty tricky mystery,” Santiago reflected.

“You’re right. The plan Andy cooked up to get a whale that was trained by the Russians for covert military operations and to also make her look like an orphaned whale to hide her in plain sight was pretty clever,” Leslie collected.

“Yeah, I’ll give him that,” Owen said, munching on a tuna sandwich. “And I'll be happy to eat anything that’s NOT fish n’ chips or clams or seafood of any kind for the next few weeks!”

“Yes, and finally, Land Sweet Land.” And Laptrap fell asleep the way a computer can, comfortably. The Cluefinders decided to give him some space to snooze as they talked about the rest of the mystery.

“But how did Andy Jason get a whale in the first place?” Joni enquired.

“That remains to be known, unfortunately,” Leslie answered.

“What was he trying to recover again from the shipwreck? Animal furs?” Santiago asked.

“Right. *Munch* Loads of them. Boxes and boxes and boxes of cargo down there!”

“But now Andy and his crewmen are in jail. Thankfully. Phew!” Joni sighed. “Serves them right for using innocent animals to do their dirty work at night and hide her in plain sight during the daytime when no one would suspect a thing.”

“I’ve got good news, too. I hear Jenna Deblin is serving more clam chowder than ever now since we left Snake Horse Harbour. It might be on their website. Maybe we should have stayed for one more meal?” Owen put in.

“Owen, you’ve had enough fishy food since the day we got there. I’m surprised that all the Atlantic Herring going bad in Katie’s refrigerator didn’t put you off from seafood, ‘least for a while,” Santiago teased.

“Hey, nothing puts me off too long from food,” Owen laughed. “What good news have you got since we left, huh?”

“Well, I just texted Katie. It looks like she is going to ‘Vote 4 Holt’ as Harbourmaster after all.”

“That’s great. It looks like after all these years living and working here, Katie is finally being accepted by and is getting along with the people here. She’s a great friend. Very talented albeit a bit opinionated. She deserves it,” Joni gushed.

“Agreed. And I’ve got some good news, too. The authorities of Snake Horse Harbour have reported that the lone orca is in good health, and is also getting along well with a local pod of whales and is rapidly losing interest in humans. Looks like her days of working for either Russians or Americans will be long behind her soon enough.” Leslie nodded her head and made her dreadlocks danced. 

“Yes. Freedom for the animals!” Santiago raised a fist.

“But how did Katie Firestone’s gloves ended up in the sea caves?” Joni wondered.

“Remember what the police told us. Andy’s buddies had found Hilda’s notebook and learned about the tunnels, and they used the tunnels to steal practically everything they could get their hands on. They simply couldn’t resist it. And after they ransacked Katie’s boat to keep her out of the way, they found her gloves and stole them, too, since they needed a pair.” Owen took the last bite of his sandwich. “Those guys…… they kinda casted a dark light onto Katie for a while, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. They made us thought it was all her doing when they stashed a piece of her with some of the cargo containers they managed to retrieve. Fine way to place the blame on an innocent person.”

“But, Santiago, what she was doing wasn’t like, totally innocent. It’s illegal to be going up close to the orca and to feed it, remember?”

“Yeah, Owen. But she wasn’t the one trying to retrieve smuggled animal furs from the bottom of the ocean. So in the grand scheme of things, she really was innocent after all!”

“Well, at least this mystery has been solved!” Joni exclaimed.

“Yesssss. Now we can take a nap in the sun, as if we’re really on holiday,” said Owen as he pulled some spare blankets from his backpack over him.

All this time Laptrap has fallen asleep but couldn’t stay asleep, because of all the kids’ chattering. “Talk, talk, talk, talk……,” he grumbled by the window sill, watching the scenery outside the ferry pass by. “Can’t they be silent and let a worn-out Turbo T.U.R.T.L.E. that needs recharging rest in peace?”

Just then Laptrap spotted something coming out of the water. It looked like some sort of sea creature with the head of a horse and the body of a snake. It bobbed up and down the water, like a log or a tree branch, then as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared into the fog. Laptrap blinked his electrical eyes. “It can’t be…… Was that—?”

Laptrap quickly told the children what he thought he saw but they laughed it off. “Laptrap, it’s probably just a log, that’s all,” Joni brushed it off.

“Or maybe it’s Caddy saying goodbye. Who knows, who knows?” Leslie hypothesised.


	13. Not-So-Bored

Joni awoke from her trip down memory lane. She was back home, still holding that video game in her hand.

What a trip. Yes, what a trip it was. No one can entertain her like the Cluefinders can and nothing can excite her like a new mystery can. Nothing can satisfy her as much as solving it, either.

But now those days are gone and she’s bored to death.

Or are they?

Joni turned on her computer and slipped the game disk in. The old times may be long gone, but at least some of them are replayable, rewatchable, or revisable, in some little way or another.

THE END.


	14. The Real Hilda Swenson

The Cluefinders flopped onto their bunk beds in Katie’s boat. They found it hard to do with the strange fishy smell and the water leaking out from the refrigerator. The Atlantic Herring was starting to go bad after defrosting. Katie explained that the person who vandalised her boat damaged her wiring while they could — the engine, TV set, and the fridge are all out. A bit of mopping and throwing out all the dead fish into the sea did the trick, and the Cluefinders could make themselves comfortable again.

After a quick rest, Joni confronted Katie, who was still fixing her engine, about keeping fish used to feed orcas in captivity in large amounts in her boat. And Katie fessed up.

“Alright, I’ve been feeding the orca, okay? I know it’s illegal. But I suspect someone else is, too.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The amount of herring I have is not enough to nourish her. But yet she still appears healthy. I think someone else is feeding her, too. I’m just not sure who.”

“I see.”

“You know, kids, this isn’t the right time for me to entertain any guests now, with so much going on. As soon as I fixed this engine I’m taking y’all back to the mainland so you fan catch a flight home. What do y’all say?”

“But,” Owen, overhearing everything, got up from his lying position on his bunk bed, “we can’t leave yet……”

“I’m sorry but I don’t make the rules here. You kids look tired. Running, or should I say, cycling around town must have gotten the better of y’all. Sorry.” And Katie went on to continue fixing her engine.

“Okay. Maybe this time we’ve got to cut this mystery short,” Laptrap, who hated surprise mysteries interrupting his quiet, peaceful, scare-free life out of nowhere, interjected. “But there’s still one more thing we can do while Katie’s engine buys us time.”

“What is it?”

“We can test out my new Anagram Buster Program!” he cried enthusiastically. “Maybe the random words on Hilda’s gifts are really just alphabets part of a longer anagram. Why try it?”

“Hey……,” Santiago suddenly said. “Maybe you’re right. I never thought of that. Everyone remember what the words, or letters are, on each of Hilda’s gifts?”

“ ‘Tren’, ‘Eleph’ and ‘One Bum’. See? I wrote them down.” Leslie showed her notepad to her friends, to their joy.

They punched in each word into Laptrap’s program. The Turbo T.U.R.T.L.E. felt gleeful at being useful for this task. His program unscrambled the words and spelled out “telephone number” to the young crew.

“I guess that’s what Hilda wants us to send from the top of the Lighthouse in Morse Code,” Laptrap concluded. “Whose phone number shall we send?”

“Mine,” Joni offered. “I can’t wait to talk to and learn who this Hilda Swenson person is.”

So they cycled back to the Lighthouse and decided to explore the secret room beneath first before climbing to the top. Apparently solving that snake puzzle opened a trap door that lead them to a ledge in the sea caves. And on the wall by the moist, rocky ledge was another snake puzzle, with strange symbols all around it. 

“Can we figure this one out later, Joni?” Santiago asked. “At least we’ve seen where the trap door leads to, and we've got a phone number to send.” So they went up to the top of the Lighthouse and did just that. Just seconds after transmitting Joni’s phone number out into the distance, they see a few rounds of flashes in the same direction indicating that Hilda has received their message. They waited.

*Ring-ring!* Joni put it on loudspeaker and picked up. “Hello?”

“Ah, the Cluefinders. Nice to finally be able to talk to you,” came the voice on the other end.

“Uh, how did you figure out who we are, ma’am?” Owen enquired curiously.

“Where there’s a will, and a satellite internet connection, there’s always a way. I read your website, dearies. You kids seem like a really prolific bunch of kids who solve mysteries and such. I could really use your help. Something fishy is going on in Snake Horse Harbour and it’s not the fish.”

“Well, we’ve come this far and we have not much time left here, so….. okay?” Joni agreed to help. Her team members nodded (even Laptrap).

“Great. I just sent you an email to your website. Read and follow the instructions and, oh, no funny stuff, ‘caused rest assured, I’ll be watching.” And she winked and hung up. It’s not like the Cluefinders could see Hilda winking on the other end of the line, but they could bet she did.

The email they received showed another puzzle. It was another set of coordinates where some digits have been replaced by alphabets A to E. The number the alphabets represent are as follows:

A = The number of “nuns” in the channel just surrounding Snake Horse Harbour.

B = The number on the buoy with graffiti on it.

C = The number of isophase buoys in the channel just surrounding Snake Horse Harbour.

D = The number of dollars Jenna charges for a cup of clam chowder.

E = The number of cairns in the tunnels.

The email also praised the Cluefinders for being tenacious, resourceful and CURIOUS, like in Hilda’s letter they found on Hilda’s Beach. That’s motivation from someone who has apparently gone “insane”, they guess.

A quick research on nautical terms “nun” and “isophase” and some more kayaking and cycling and observation (and recalling the number cairns they found in the tunnels) lead the Cluefinders to solve Hilda’s puzzle and complete the set of coordinates: 

N 48, 42.485  
W 123, 08.615

They punched in the coordinates into their GPS and it led them to a small container floating in the middle of the channel. They picked it up and found a transmitter device of some sort. And Joni’s phone rang again.

“Hello, Cluefinders. I commend your ability to take direction and to follow through. You kids are definitely a cut above. And for that you’ve just been rewarded.”

“H-hey, Hilda. Why can’t you just tell us what you want us to know or do for you?” 

“I’m afraid that’s not how the world works, dearies. You’ve gotta be CURIOUS if you want answers. You’ve got to grab the world by the throat and shake things up until the answers fall out of its butt or something. You want answers? Okay. Here’s your next clue, finders. I hope you like poems.” Hilda cleared her throat. “Below ground is a rock with a strange anvil look. When you’re near it, behold what’s above. Letters found at the beach will put a new spot in reach — Letters only a sailor could love.”

The Cluefinders exchanged weird looks.

“Sigh, I’m sorry, children. I am many things, but I’m afraid I’m not much of a poet.”

“I, uh, think it’s decent.” Owen always has something hip or positive to say about others.

“Why, thank you, darling. Follow where that poem leads you, and use that device I rewarded you with when you get there, and we’ll do lunch.”

“Really?” At the mention of “lunch”, Owen, well, you know……

“No, dear. It’s just an expression. No one in Hollywood actually does lunch when they say they’re gonna do lunch.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t wait to see, or watch, how you kids are going to solve this one this time,” Hilda laughed. “Goodbye, dearies!”

“Oh wait, don’t hang up yet,” Joni pleaded. “We have so many questions —” BEEP!

Poetry. Better a clue, Cluefinders!

They gang found themselves back in the tunnels via the Hot Kettle Cafe (the way via the Lighthouse was blocked). They have walked all the way — for miles, again — to the Lighthouse and stopped before Anvil Rock. They looked up. Sure enough, there was another tunnel above it. They climbed the rocks and found themselves in a much narrower but thankful taller cavern, so they all had to walk single file (in a single line).

“ ‘Letters only a sailor could love’. Could she be referring to this?” Leslie pulled out the piece of paper she had kept from Hilda’s Rosebud box on Hilda’s beach — the paper with “Ports” and “Starboards” and “Ps” and “Ss” on them. Port or P must mean Left, as in the left side of a boat while Starboard or S means Right, or right side of a boat. Let’s follow the directions based on that.

Should have known. The directions led them to another set of coordinates inscribed on the stone wall:

N 48, 42.522  
W 123, 08.799

For a crazy woman, Hilda Swenson sure knew how to find her way through these tunnels, leave clues behind, and leave directions for the next person to find them. Should have known that, too.

They Cluefinders came out into the Hot Kettle Cafe after another round of long-distance walking and decided to talk to Jenna about the tunnels.

“Look, tunnels are dangerous. I don’t want you kids poking around there anymore.”

“We'll be fine, Jenna. Really,” they assured her.

“I don’t want you telling anyone about the tunnels without coming to me first, okay?”

“Why’s that?”

Jenna lowered her voice so Holt, who was using the loo, couldn’t hear. “Because the rumours of the shanghaiing taking place here, they weren’t just rumours. They did take place, my great-great-greatfather Silas Deblin played a big part in it. My aunt had told me the tunnels he and his cohorts used to roam in had been filled up and sealed off, but the truth about him would come out eventually. I just wanted to spare my parents’ feelings.”

“You mean your—,” Owen checked his voice level, “you mean your great-great-grandfather was shanghaiing his own customers?”

“Helping to shanghai them, maybe. Maybe a sea captain or evil pirate showed up here at the Royal Flush Saloon — that’s what this place was known as back in the day — and threatened him to not tell anyone what they were doing, so that’s that. It’s just a theory but who knows.”

The children understood and promised to keep the tunnels a secret. They thanked her for all the clam chowder and muffins and left. Holt, coming out of the loo told them to “watch out for Caddy!” as they leave.

***

So they entered the new set of coordinates into Holt’s GPS. Hilda has given them three sets of coordinates so far via messages in bottles, an email puzzle, and in the tunnels past Anvil Rock. The Cluefinders once again find themselves out on the channel, this time using the Zaptech Transmitter to summon a box attached to a float out to the surface of the water. A pair of golden binoculars was inside the box. And Joni’s phone rang again.

“Oh, dear. This is getting really predictable. I’m afraid this would really be our last conversation, Cluefinders.”

“What??? Just like that?” Owen hated passing up the opportunity to get to know someone new, no matter how “crazy” they seemed.

“Oh, no. Wait, please! You seem like a really interesting person to get to know. Can we please talk a little longer?” Joni begged. 

“If Joni is begging, she really means it,” Leslie supported.

“There’s one thing we don’t quite understand. Why act like you’re crazy when you seem…… pretty sane to me?”

“That’s the thing, dearies. After my husband died and left Snake Horse Harbour I left everything I owned behind to kinda prove that I’ve lost my marbles. But then I realised accidentally left behind something I should have taken with me — my notebook on Benjamin Hawkins. Someone has obviously found it and is misusing it.”

“What is in that notebook?” Owen asked.

“You see, my husband and I explored every inch of land while we were staying at Snake Horse Harbour. And whatever we found, we wrote it in that notebook.”

“So you feel whatever fishy things are going on at Snake Horse Harbour is somehow your fault because you let it fall into the wrong hands?” Laptrap asked.

“That’s right, I’m afraid, and I'll take the blame.”

“But what do we do with this pair of binoculars?” Joni held them up. “I already have a pair.”

“They’re equipped with a special pair of rose-tinted lenses, my dear. I've always had a thing for the colour Rose.”

“Explains ‘Rosebud’,” Laptrap mused.

“Use them to to take a good look at that ship in the bottle at Whale World. Look hard enough and you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

“But why make people think you’re crazy when you’re not?” Santiago couldn’t drop it.

“Oh, darlings. I got bored of the people of Snake Horse Harbour. They’re nice and friendly and all but when it comes to imagination and ambition, they’re…… not quite there yet. Very uninteresting and humdrum sometimes. So to make sure they leave me alone out on my island……”

“You pretended to be nuts,” the Cluefinders concluded.

“Right. It’s been so much fun watching you non-locals — bright, tenacious, resourceful, smart, and CURIOUS — receive my messages in those bottles, solving my puzzles, putting the pieces together and, well, I must say, I have been very entertained. And for that I thank you, Cluefinders.”

“Uh, you’re welcome, I guess,” Laptrap said and somewhat meant it.

“Very entertaining, indeed, the bunch of you. Now. I must leave you to your quest and to save the island from whoever’s doing it poor justice now. This, as they say in The Business, is a wrap. Goodbye, Cluefinders.”

The Cluefinders really wanted to continue the conversation, but they felt that they have nothing else to say and Hilda Swenson had already revealed the biggest parts of the mystery surrounding herself. So they thanked her, wished her goodbye, and hung up.

“Goodbye, Hilda.” BEEP!

They sat in their kayaks in their life jackets and looked at each other. It was amazing how a woman who hasn’t lived in Snake Horse Harbour for YEARS can still remember so much about the island and what had happened before she lost the love of her life. Hilda is an interesting character, no matter what other people think about her, or no matter what she made other people think about her. She just wanted them to leave her alone after all.

So the young crew rowed back to shore and cycled to Whale World. Through the binoculars, they spotted three strange symbols on the sails of the ship inside the bottle, otherwise invisible to the naked eye. Laptrap’s circuits sparked.

“I’ve seen those symbols before — on a wall in the sea caves. And that’s after we went through that trap door under the Lighthouse. Positive.” The gang has got to be grateful for Laptrap’s visual or photographic memory sometimes.

So they cycled back to the crumbling Lighthouse, opened the secret room and went through that trap door again, which was thankfully left open for them since their last, and first, visit there.

They found the puzzle and pushed the button with the star, the first symbol, on it. Then they turned the dials (which are designed to look like snakes eating their own tails) until the mouth of the snakes each faced the two other symbols (one looking like the top of a trident or chandelier and the other like a cross). A section of the wall under the puzzle went down and revealed and interesting mechanism below it. They pulled the lever and a secret door in the sea caves opened.

“Let’s grab our kayaks and go!” Joni commanded.

“This has been a very…… athletic trip,” Owen commented. “One minute we’re walking. Then we’re cycling. Then we’re kayaking. And then we’re exploring long-distance underground tunnels on foot.”

At the mouth of the secret sea cave, the Cluefinders stopped. “This must be where Benjamin Hawkins used to hide out,” Santiago commented. The gang found all kinds of things at the end of it, on a small ledge: some Marine Animal Harness for Juvenile Orcas, some diving equipment, boxes of herring (to feed the orca with, most likely), an oxygen tank and a wetsuit, S.S. Whitechapel Dawn cargo containers (where that driftwood came from), a beach ball, and (gasp!) Katie Firestone’s gloves! “Did she leave them here or did someone stole them?” The Cluefinders got out of their kayaks to investigate. 

Just then the lone orca appeared! It had been following the Cluefinders into the sea caves for quite some time now. The oxygen tank rolled into the water, and the orca used its head to bonk it out of the water and back to the kids, like she was playing a game of fetch. The flying sent to Cluefinders scrambling away to all corners of the ledge, knocking into some of the crates and boxes of seafood piled there.

Leslie was the first to get over her shock. “Hmmm, this orca appears to have been trained,” she observed. “It’s not wild at all.”

That bit of information relieved the rest of the gang , and they had fun taking turns to throw the beach ball into the water, as far as they could, and watching the whale knock it back to them, with her snout or her head.

Unfortunately, just like building sandcastles, all fun things have to halt for a while until the work is done. So the Cluefinders got back into their kayaks, bidding the disappearing whale goodbye on their way out of the sea cave, and prepared to tell Katie everything they discovered.


End file.
